President Biden Announces Key Nominees

WASHINGTON – Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to serve as key leaders in his administration:

• David Samuel Johnson, Nominee to be Inspector General for Tax Administration, U.S. Department of the Treasury
• Gabriel Escobar, Nominee to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Paraguay
• Patrice H. Kunesh, Nominee to be Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission
• Lisa T. Ballance, Nominee to be Chair and Member of the Marine Mammal Commission

• Matthew James Marzano, Nominee to be a Member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

David Samuel Johnson, Nominee to be Inspector General for Tax Administration, U.S. Department of the Treasury

David Samuel Johnson is a career member of the Senior Executive Service and the Assistant Inspector General for Investigations at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, where he oversees a law enforcement directorate responsible for conducting investigative oversight of the second-largest federal agency. He previously served for more than a decade as a federal prosecutor, both as an Assistant Chief in the Fraud Section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, as well as an Assistant United States Attorney and Health Care Fraud Coordinator at the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Johnson also served as an Assistant Chief Litigation Counsel at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. He began his legal career as an associate at an international law firm and a law clerk for the Honorable Rosemary M. Collyer on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. From 2008 to 2010, Johnson was a board member and secretary of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association Educational Fund.

Johnson received his B.A. in Government from the University of Virginia and J.D. from William & Mary Law School. He previously served as an adjunct law professor at Georgetown University Law Center. Johnson resides in Virginia with his wife and daughter.

Gabriel Escobar, Nominee to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Paraguay

Gabriel Escobar, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, most recently served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C. Prior to that, Escobar served as the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, as Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, and as the Coordinator for Cuban Affairs, in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the State Department. Escobar was also Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in La Paz, Bolivia, and Consul General of the U.S. Consulate General in Peshawar, Pakistan. Escobar’s earlier assignments include service as Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal and as a team leader for the U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kirkuk, Iraq. Escobar also served in the U.S. Naval Reserve for 17 years and was honorably discharged in 2003. Escobar earned his bachelor’s degree from Columbia University. He speaks Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Italian, Serbian, Croatian, and Czech.

Lisa T. Ballance, Nominee to be Chair and Member of the Marine Mammal Commission

Lisa T. Ballance is the Director of Oregon State University’s (OSU) Marine Mammal Institute, Endowed Chair of Marine Mammal Research, and Professor of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences. In this role she oversees the vision and implementation of research, education, and outreach for the Institute’s professors, post-doctorates, students, and staff. Prior to joining OSU’s Marine Mammal Institute, Ballance directed the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Fisheries’ Marine Mammal and Turtle Research Division in La Jolla, California, providing scientific leadership and oversight for scientists conducting applied research in the context of Endangered Species and Marine Mammal Protection Act directives. She was also Chief Scientist of NOAA’s Eastern Tropical Pacific Dolphin Research Program, which provided the scientific basis for the “Dolphin Safe” label found on tuna cans in supermarkets all over the country. Ballance holds a PhD in Marine Ecology, an M.S. in Marine Science, and a B.S. in Biology. She has studied the ecology and conservation biology of cetaceans and seabirds for over 35 years around the world. She has published more than 150 scientific papers, book chapters, and technical reports; regularly gives invited presentations at professional conferences, universities, public lectures, and policy-related briefings; and mentored post-doctorate, doctorate, masters, and undergraduate honors students. Ballance is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, recipient of the U.S. Department of Commerce Bronze and Silver Medals, NOAA Fisheries’ Supervisor of the Year, and cover feature of the Association for Women in Science.

Patrice H. Kunesh, Nominee to be Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission

Patrice H. Kunesh, of Standing Rock Lakota descent, has committed her career to public service, including several positions at the tribal, state, and federal level. Kunesh currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Native American Affairs and the Commissioner of the Administration for Native Americans in the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Prior to joining HHS, Kunesh worked at the Native American Rights Fund, where she began her legal career, and served as in-house Counsel to the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and on the faculty at the University of South Dakota School of Law. Kunesh also held appointments as the Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as the Deputy Solicitor for Indian Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior, and as a member of the U.S. Treasury Community Development Advisory Board (CDFI Fund) as the representative for Native communities. Additionally, she established the Center for Indian Country Development, an economic policy research initiative at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Kunesh also founded Peȟíŋ Haha Consulting, a social enterprise committed to fostering culturally centered Native economic development. 

Kunesh holds a J.D. from the University of Colorado School of Law and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Matthew James Marzano, Nominee to be a Member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Matthew James Marzano currently serves as an Idaho National Laboratory Detailee on the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW), where he advises the committee on policy matters relating to clean air, climate, and energy. Most recently, he advised the Chairman on the ADVANCE Act, a bipartisan piece of legislation designed to prepare the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to handle an expected surge in new nuclear reactor models. Prior to this role, Marzano was selected as an American Association for the Advancement of Science Congressional Fellow, representing the American Nuclear Society and serving on the U.S. Senate EPW Committee.

Marzano combines his policy background with more than a decade of experience in the nuclear industry, during which he focused on nuclear energy systems for both defense and commercial applications. Prior to his service in the U.S. Senate, Marzano earned his Senior Reactor Operator license at Braidwood Nuclear Power Station, located in Illinois, where he led installation testing of a modernized control system to improve plant performance and safety. He began his career as a civilian instructor for the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program at the U.S. Department of Energy. In that capacity, he oversaw the training of U.S. Navy personnel preparing for assignment as nuclear plant operators on submarines and aircraft carriers. Following this role, Marzano transitioned to the commercial nuclear power industry at the V.C. Summer new nuclear construction project in South Carolina, where Marzano supported construction activities while pursuing a Senior Reactor Operator license.

Marzano earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Florida, where his research focused on the modeling of nuclear energy systems. He lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and 1-year old son.

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